His English Rose
by Bluelight Faerie
Summary: Elizabeth Bennet had been told countless of time by her mother that she would never get a husband or be as beautiful as her twin sister Jane. When Jane suddenly gets engaged and wants Elizabeth's help in planning the wedding, it will take all the patience she's got to put up with her mother, annoying cousins, snobby soon to be sister in-laws. This just might be a blessing


**Hey lovelies! I'm back and on track with this story. I decided to take the first two chapters and combine them giving you lovely readers and kind of large chapter. Bear with me and my updating schedule. I have a lot of ideas for this story and I'll need time in putting them together. Anyways, a BIG BIG thank you to my Beta; write-to-be-me and her help with the new structure of the story. Enjoy!**

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From a very young age, Elizabeth had been told countless of times that she would never compare to her fraternal twin sister Jane. Jane was the classic model; tall, and athletic. With her deep tan and her straight honey blonde hair, and cerulean eyes, she was exactly what a stereotypical California girl looked like. Her hair always cooperated, and she always managed to look ten times better than Elizabeth effortlessly. Jane had a kind, quiet and shy demeanor to match. Elizabeth on the other hand was your average American; she was shorter than Jane with curly dark blonde hair with auburn highlights, and grey eyes with little flecks of blue in them. Elizabeth, the spitfire couldn't be any more different than her twin. She had a fiery temper, a sharp tongue and enough wit and intelligence to match anyone. She was an equal amount of book-smart and street smart; she was usually one of those students who completed assignments and essays effortlessly and knew how to kiss up to teachers if needed. Many told the girls that they were like Yin and Yang because they balanced each other out nicely.

As they grew up, they gained three more sisters. Mary was born one year later, and another set of twins; identical twins, Kitty and Lydia. Time progressed, and the girls grew up. Mary and Elizabeth started to be constantly subjected to their mother's comments on how they weren't like their sisters Jane and Lydia. In response to the nagging of their mother Elizabeth would fire back logical comebacks to protect herself and Mary. These comebacks infuriated their mother, and amused their father immensely giving Elizabeth the role of his favourite and her least favourite. Lydia was exactly like her mother, making her the mother's favourite. She was loud, and reminded her mother of her youth. Both mother and daughter were stupid, superficial and over-confident. Kitty longed her mother's approval more than anything in the world. This brought her to become a carbon copy of Lydia without her own personality. Kitty would dress and act like Lydia just to get noticed. Elizabeth felt sorry for her because she had been in the same situation years back. She tried helping Kitty gain her own identity, but the girl was insistent on copying Lydia.

Mary was quiet; as the middle child, she was often neglected by both parents. Elizabeth often took pity on Mary and began making an effort to bond with her middle sister. In the end, they became good friends as a result of their intellectual similarities. Elizabeth and Jane however, were two peas in a pod. Where there was one, you would always find the other. Jane was Elizabeth's confidant and she hers, they even finished each other sentences.

When the two entered high school, they had both changed. Elizabeth had grown taller which made her seem ganglier rather than attractive. Jane's figure filled out and she had become more beautiful; however, which had started to attract many glances by the guys at their school. Jane eventually became the queen of the dating scene. Elizabeth on the other hand was friends with many guys who sometimes used her to get to Jane. Countless of times, Jane would unconsciously steal the guys Elizabeth liked; but Elizabeth couldn't blame her sister, but she had some hidden resentments that only Mary knew and shared. Jane was head cheerleader, won homecoming queen every year, and was the school's best ballet dancer.

Elizabeth loved sports and books she could always be found on the volleyball court, the soccer field, the karate dojo or the library with her sister Mary. Mary she liked books, had a passion for piano and loved to play volleyball. Their mother felt that sports and video games were for boys, the fact that her daughters were playing them, made the girls very unladylike. Despite their mother's disapproval, the girls didn't care one bit. Their mother would remind them that no man would ever want to marry a lady who played sports. Elizabeth would always reply that she knew a lot of guys who liked girls that played sports. Their mother would retort and ask Elizabeth why no guy ever knocked on their door asking for her.

When their high school years started to come to a close, their mother started worrying about marriage especially for Elizabeth and Mary. She worried because the two girls had never had boyfriends; they felt like they did not need to be in a relationship to be happy. They went on a few dates but never obtained serious boyfriends much to their mother's dismay. Every chance she had, she threw the two sisters into arms of available and potential suitors. These suitors ranged from family friends to random strangers. Their mother claimed that they wouldn't be able to find someone on their own because they weren't as beautiful as Jane. Jane of course, was never included in the man tossing game because she always had a boyfriend.

When they received their university acceptance letters; Elizabeth and Jane got accepted into different universities much to everyone's surprise. Elizabeth had applied to the University of Cambridge's Architecture Program to get away from her matchmaking mother and was accepted with a full scholarship. Jane on the other hand wanted to stay closer to home and was accepted at UCLA to study fashion design. Elizabeth graduated with all honours as did Jane. The summer after Jane and Elizabeth's senior year, they and Mary spent every waking minute they had together before Elizabeth was to fly halfway across the world to attend Cambridge. When came time for Elizabeth to leave, Mary was saddened but Elizabeth assured her that they would see each other since Mary wanted to attend Oxford the following year, and had the scores to get in.

At the young age of 21, she finished her architecture program and graduated at the top of her class. Once she graduated, she worked alongside her uncle Gardiner who was CEO of his own architecture firm. Having no children of their own, the Gardiners saw Elizabeth as their own daughter and entailed the firm to her on the occasion of their death. By the age of 23, she had become one of the top earning architects in the world; designing everything from multimillion dollar houses to hotels and resorts. In addition to her success, Mary had moved in with Elizabeth after finishing her Law program and graduating at the top of her class from Oxford.

At the age of 24, she made a decision that shocked her friends and family; she decided to adopt a baby. She adopted a little girl whose mother -Elizabeth's college friend – died in childbirth and named her Alexia Chloe Bennet. Mrs. Bennet did not like the idea. She felt that it would scare away possible suitors and make them think that she had a child before getting married; therefore, she never considered Alexia as a grand-child. Mr. Bennet, on the other hand, fell in love with Alexia from day one; there was something about her that reminded him of his Lizzie-bear. Needless to say, Mr. Bennet was a frequent visitor to their five room penthouse suite in England as he made the trip halfway across the world from California to England often. Elizabeth wondered if it was to see her and Alexia or to get away from her mother…

Two years later, Jane announced her engagement to long-time friend Charles Bingley. He and Jane met during freshman year at UCLA and had been inseparable ever since. Jane asked Elizabeth to help her with the wedding plans. Elizabeth, unable to say no, agreed which meant she had to put up with her mother's comments about her lack of suitors once again and work alongside two snobby soon to be sister-in-laws to put together the wedding of the year. The positive side to the wedding planning was that she would get to spend a lot of time with the rest of her family, especially her dad. Elizabeth was unwilling to stay in the same house as her marriage crazed mother, Six months before her and Alexia's departure; she, Mary and Alexia, flew to the States and purchased a nice sized modern property that appealed to her architectural tastes with enough room and a lot of space in a gated community a good distance away from her family home. After the house was purchased, Mary stayed behind while Lizzie and Alexia returned to England to prepare for the big move back home.


End file.
